Mobile telephone network access

ABSTRACT

A method of conveying electronic information from a stationary or mobile device such as a vending machine ( 1 ) to a mobile telephone network ( 14 ). The method comprises taking at least partial temporary control over the mobile terminal to provide temporary connectivity to a mobile telephone network via a wireless communication link between the mobile or stationary device and said terminal, transmitting the information from the stationary or mobile device ( 1 ) to a mobile terminal ( 8 ) in close proximity to said device ( 1 ) via a wireless communication link (RI 1 ). The information is then relayed from the mobile terminal ( 8 ) to the mobile network ( 14 ) via the mobile network radio link (RI 2 ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to mobile telephone network access andmore particularly to mobile telephone network access for stationary ormobile devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the increasing use of mobile telephones, proposals have been madeto make use of mobile telephones to control and interact wirelessly withlocal systems. For example, JP 8249530 describes the use of a mobiletelephone to purchase goods from a vending machine by sending a radiosignal directly to the vending machine or alternatively by placing acall to the vending machine over a telephone circuit. The cost of apurchased article or service is charged to the telephone subscriber'stelephone account. Similarly, the use of mobile telephones to purchasesuch things as train and airline tickets, as well as to remotely operatetelevisions, stereos, etc., can be envisaged.

Consumer take-up of products offering this type of functionality willdepend to a large extent upon the inter-operability of the products. Thesame applies to take-up by manufacturers. As such, the definition ofsome appropriate industry-wide standard for the radio interface betweenmobile terminals and local systems, e.g. vending machines, televisions,etc., is almost essential. A number of major electronics companies arecurrently working together in a project named “Blue Tooth” with the aimof providing such a standard.

Whilst the provision of a standard in this area will theoreticallyfacilitate the interworking of mobile terminals with multiple localsystems, a number of practical problems remain to be overcome.

Summary of the Present Invention

One such problem has been recognised by the inventors of the presentinvention. In order to enable a stationary or mobile device, hereafterreferred to as a local system, to contact a mobile subscriber'soperator, it has been thought necessary to provide the local system witheither a connection to a fixed line telephone network or a directconnection to a mobile network, i.e. effectively providing the localsystem with its own mobile telephone. These options are potentiallyexpensive and/or complex to install.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at leastmitigate the disadvantages of current proposals for connecting a localsystem to a mobile network. This and other objects are achieved, atleast in part, by making use of a mobile terminal in proximity to thelocal system to relay electronic transaction information from the localsystem to the mobile network. The local system can be a stationary orfixed device or it can be a mobile device possibly having a restrictedmobility.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of conveying electronic information or locally generated messagesfrom a local system like a stationary or mobile device to a mobiletelephone network, the method comprising transmitting the informationfrom the local system to a mobile terminal in close proximity to thelocal system via a local wireless communication link between said localsystem and said mobile terminal and subsequently relaying theinformation from the mobile terminal to the mobile network via themobile network radio link. Preferably, the mobile terminal is atraditional or genuine mobile terminal like a mobile telephone or thelike, which according to one aspect of the present invention is madecapable of performing the relay function as described.

By utilising mobile terminals to relay information from a local systemto a mobile network, it becomes no longer necessary to provide a directconnection between each and every local system and the telephonenetwork. Thus, the cost and complexity of the local systems is reduced.

Preferably, the local system in close proximity to the mobile terminalsis able to take at least partial temporary control over the mobileterminals and so to interact with the mobile terminals via said wirelesscommunication link which preferably is a bi-directional link. Forexample, a mobile terminal user may conduct a transaction with the localsystem, e.g. where the local system is a vending machine or the likedevice of stationary or mobile nature, wherein the mobility may berestricted in relation to the genuine mobile terminals.

Preferably, the electronic information relayed by the mobile terminalfrom the local system to the mobile network comprises mobile terminalauthentication data and/or financial data.

Preferably, the mobile terminal relays electronic information from themobile network to the local system via the mobile radio network and thewireless communication link.

Preferably, the wireless communication link coupling the mobile terminaland the local system is a radio link. Alternatively however, the linkmay be an infra-red or an ultrasonic link.

Preferably, the method comprises enabling the user of a mobile terminalto allow or disallow the use of the terminal to relay information fromthe local system to the mobile network. This may either be done on a pertransmission basis or may be a user definable setting of the terminal.

It is noted that the final destination (or source) of informationrelayed by a mobile terminal may be a component of the mobile network ormay be a terminal or node coupled to the mobile network, e.g. viaanother telephone network or a data network, e.g. the Internet.

According to second aspect of the present invention there is providedapparatus for conveying electronic information from a local system likea stationary or mobile device to a mobile telephone network, theapparatus comprising:

transmitting means at the stationary or mobile device and receivingmeans at a mobile terminal, the transmitting and receiving meanstogether providing a short range wireless transmission link;

first signal processing means at the stationary, or mobile devicearranged to transmit said electronic information to the mobile terminalover said transmission link; and

second signal processing means at the mobile terminal for receiving thetransmitted information and for causing the information to betransmitted to the mobile network over the mobile radio link.

Preferably, the arrangement further comprises corresponding receivingmeans arranged at the stationary or mobile device for receiving signalstransmitted by corresponding transmitting means arranged at the mobileterminal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided amobile terminal arranged to communicate with a mobile telephone networkvia a mobile radio link, the terminal comprising:

receiver means for receiving information transmitted from a stationaryor mobile device over a short range wireless link; and

signal processing means for processing the received information into aformat suitable for transmission over the mobile radio link and forsubsequently causing the processed data to be transmitted over themobile radio link to the mobile network.

Favorably the mobile terminal comprises corresponding transmission meansarranged to transmit information to the stationary or mobile device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention and in order to showhow the same may be carried into effect reference will now be made, byway of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows schematically a vending machine and a mobile terminal whichare able to interact with one another in accordance with an embodimentof the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the method of operation of thesystem of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

There is illustrated in FIG. 1 a vending machine 1 which is one exampleof a local system in which the present invention may be employed.Usually a vending machine 1 as such is more or less fixed or stationary,but in some cases it may also be more or less mobile and arranged, e.g.,in a vehicle or the like. Articles which may be purchased from thevending machine include the likes of soft drinks, chocolate bars, etc.The vending machine has a control unit 2 which comprises a centralprocessing unit 3 as well as a memory device 4 which stores controlinstructions for the central processing unit 3 as well as other data.The control unit 2 is electrically connected to the mechanical selectionand outlet mechanism of the vending machine 1 such that the control unitcan cause specific items to be dispensed to a consumer via an outlettray 5 of the vending machine.

The control unit 2 also comprises a radio frequency transceiver 6 whichis coupled on the one side to the central processing unit 3 viaappropriate interface circuitry (not shown in the Figure) and on theother side to a transmitting and receiving antenna 7. The transceiver 6,antenna 7, and central processing unit 3 are arranged to communicatewith mobile terminals such as mobile telephones via a standardised localradio air interface protocol RI1. The range over which suchcommunications may be carried out is relatively small, e.g. of the orderof 10 metres.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile telephone 8 which may be thought of as a“smart phone”. The telephone 8 comprises a display 9 and a keyboard 10,as well as a central processing unit (or digital signal processor) 11.An antenna 12 and transceiver 13 of the telephone 8 enable the telephoneto communicate in the normal way (over radio interface RI2) with acellular telephone network 14 via a base station 15 of the network, e.g.using the GSM protocol. The central processing unit 11 is additionallyable to communicate with the control unit 2 of the vending machine 1using the previously mentioned standardised local air interface RI1. Thesame antenna 12 and transceiver 13 may be used for such localcommunications although another antenna and transceiver may be required.As the telephone 8 is able to communicate using two different protocols,it may be considered a “dual-mode” telephone.

In use, the control unit 2 is arranged to broadcast at regular intervalsa Terminal Alert message over its 10 metres broadcast range. Mobileterminals such as the telephone 8 are programmed to listen for suchTerminal Alert messages and, upon receipt, to alert the telephone userthat the telephone is within the coverage range of a local system towhich the user has access. The Terminal Alert message will typicallycontain additional information describing the service which thebroadcasting system offers. This may be displayed as text or an icon onthe display 9 of the telephone 8. A message is also displayed, askingthe user to accept or reject the transmitted offer.

In the event that the user accepts the offer by pressing an appropriatekey on the telephone's keyboard 10, an Accept message is returned fromthe telephone 8 to the vending machine's control unit 2 over the localconnection RI1. Upon receipt of the Accept message, the centralprocessing unit 3 of the control unit 2 transmits an Authenticationmessage to the mobile telephone 8 over the local radio interface RI1.The message is recognised by the central processing unit 11 of thetelephone 8 as being a message intended for the mobile network 14. Thetelephone 8 initiates a telephone call to the network 14 and transmitsthe Authentication message over interface RI2. The message is thenconveyed to a charging and authentication database 16 within the network14. This process of relaying the message from the vending machine to thetelephone network may involve the vending machine effectively takingcontrol of the mobile telephone.

The database 16 contains a record of mobile telephones which areentitled to use the services of the vending machine 1. Assuming that themobile telephone is so entitled, a Confirm Authentication message isreturned from the network 14 to the mobile telephone 8. The message isrecognised by the central processing unit 11 as destined for the vendingmachine 1 and is relayed to the vending machine over the interface RI1.It will be appreciated that the authentication process (and chargingprocess to be described below) involves a secure protocol such that theuser of the mobile telephone 8 is not able to interfere in the process.

When the identity of the telephone 8 has been authenticated by thevending machine 1, the vending machine downloads a set of interfacesoftware instructions to the telephone 8 over the local wirelessconnection RI1. These instructions are received by the transceiver 13 ofthe telephone, and are stored in a memory 17. On the basis of theinstructions, the central processing unit 11 of the telephone configuresthe user interface of the telephone 8 according to the specificrequirements of the vending machine 1. For example, the downloadedinstructions may result in a list of the goods available from thevending machine being available for display on the telephone's display9. The user may then select an article to be purchased by using a scrollkey, and by pressing an accept (or OK) key, whereupon the cost of theselected article is retrieved from the downloaded instruction set anddisplayed. The user may then conclude the transaction by again pressingthe accept key. This final action results in a Purchase message beingtransmitted from the telephone 8 to the control unit 2 of the vendingmachine 1.

Upon receipt of the Purchase message, the central processing unit 3 ofthe control unit 2 instructs the vending machine to select and dispensethe article identified in the Purchase message. The central processingunit 3 then transmits a Charging message to the mobile telephone 8 overinterface RI1. As with the Authentication message, the Charging messageis relayed by the telephone 8 to the mobile network 14 over interfaceRI2. The message is relayed to the charging and authentication database16 which debits the transaction cost from the telephone user's accountand credits it to an account held by the operator of the vending machine1. It will be appreciated that other charging schemes may be used. Forexample, the cellular network operator may act as an electronic bank forthe subscriber, holding a deposit of electronic money. Electronic moneyis transferred to the vending machine operator (or his bank) uponcompletion of the transaction.

The method described above is further illustrated in the flow diagram ofFIG. 2.

It is likely that some of the subscribers may not wish to allow theirtelephones to be used for relaying messages as described above. As such,mobile telephones may provide a user option to either select or deselectthe message relay function.

It will also be appreciated that the cost of relaying messages may beallocated to the subscriber or to the vending machine operator, or maybe divided between the two.

It will be appreciated by the person of skill in the art that othermodifications may be made to the above described embodiment withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. For example, whereasin the above embodiment, messages which originate from the vendingmachine 1 are transmitted from the mobile telephone to the mobilenetwork by first establishing a telephone call, these messages mayalternatively be sent for example over a signalling channel, e.g. usingthe GSM Short Message Service (SMS). In addition to relaying transactionmessages, the present invention may be used to relay other informationfrom the local system to the network (and onwards if necessary). Forexample, a vending machine may use a passing mobile telephone to relay amessage that the vending machine requires re-stocking. This may be donewith or without the knowledge and consent of the mobile telephone user.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of conveying electronic information froma stationary or mobile device to a mobile telephone network, the methodcomprising: sending a terminal alert message, which additionallycontains information describing a service which the stationary or mobiledevice offers, from the stationary or mobile device to a mobileterminal; receiving the terminal alert message in the mobile terminaland sending an accept or reject message from the mobile terminal to thestationary or mobile device; transmitting the information from thestationary or mobile device to the mobile terminal in close proximity tothe stationary or mobile device via a wireless communication link; andsubsequently relaying the information from the mobile terminal to themobile network via the mobile network radio link.
 2. A method accordingto claim 1, wherein mobile terminals in close proximity to thestationary or mobile device are able to interact with said device viasaid wireless communication link, which is a bi-directional link.
 3. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the electronic information relayedby the mobile terminal from the stationary or mobile device to themobile network comprises mobile terminal authentication data and/orfinancial data.
 4. A method according to claim 1 and comprising relayingelectronic information from the mobile network to the stationary ormobile device via the mobile radio network and the wirelesscommunication link.
 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein thewireless communication link coupling the mobile terminal and the localsystem is a radio link.
 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein thelocal system in close proximity to the mobile terminals take at leastpartial temporary control over the mobile terminals and so to interactwith the mobile terminals via said wireless communication link.
 7. Amethod according to claim 1 and comprising enabling the user of themobile terminal to allow or disallow the use of the terminal to relayinformation from the stationary or mobile device to the mobile network.8. Apparatus for conveying electronic information from a stationary ormobile device (1) to a mobile telephone network (14), the apparatuscomprising: transmitting means (6, 7) at the stationary or mobile device(1) and receiving means (12, 13) at a mobile terminal (8), thetransmitting and receiving means together providing a short rangewireless transmission link (RI1), wherein the transmitting means (6, 7)provide a terminal alert message, which additionally containsinformation describing a service which the stationary or mobile deviceoffers, and receiving means (12, 13) is capable for receiving theterminal alert message; control means (10) at the mobile terminal forproviding a user the possibility to accept or reject the terminal alertmessage; sending means (12, 13) at the mobile terminal for sending theaccept or reject message from the mobile station to the stationary ormobile device; first signal processing means (3) at the stationary ormobile device (1) arranged to transmit said electronic information tothe mobile terminal (8) over the transmission link (RI1); and secondsignal processing means (11) at the mobile terminal (8) for receivingthe transmitted information and for causing the information to betransmitted to the mobile network (14) over a mobile radio link (RI2).9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the arrangement furthercomprises receiving means arranged at the stationary or mobile device(1) for receiving signals transmitted by transmitting means arranged atthe mobile terminal (8).
 10. A mobile terminal (8) arranged tocommunicate with a mobile telephone network (14) via a mobile radio link(RI2), the terminal comprising: receiving means (12, 13) for receivinginformation transmitted from a stationary or mobile device (1) over ashort range wireless link (RI1), wherein the receiving means is capableof receiving a terminal alert message, which additionally containsinformation describing a service which the stationary or mobile deviceoffers; control means (10) for providing a user the possibility toaccept or reject the terminal alert message; sending means (12, 13) forsending the accept or reject message from the mobile station to thestationary or mobile device; and signal processing means (11) forprocessing the received information into a format suitable fortransmission over the mobile radio link (RI2) and for subsequentlycausing the processed data to be transmitted over the mobile radio link(RI2) to the mobile network (14).
 11. A terminal according to claim 10,wherein the mobile terminal (8) comprises transmission means arranged totransmit information to the stationary or mobile device (1).